10 dogs dead, shelter director’s explanation disputed

Ten dogs at the Barrow County Animal Shelter were destroyed last week to prevent the spread of an illness believed to be the highly contagious parvovirus. The outbreak was discovered on Jan. 22 after a visitor alerted the staff to a Shepherd mix dog lying on its side with bloody stool nearby. That dog was euthanized that day.

The other dogs housed in the same area initially appeared to be unaffected by the illness, but after two exhibited similar symptoms the following day, all nine were destroyed. Since then, the room with the sick animals reportedly has been closed to the public. However, that is not the end of the story, due to the shelter director’s mishandling of information about the incident. She told the newspaper this week that the nine other dogs were not put down because of the illness but because their time was up and it was the shelter’s “regular euthanasia day.” But that is not true, according to county manager Jock Connell and human resources director Charlie Felts, who both looked into the matter.

See Wednesday's print edition of the Barrow Journal for the complete story.